Spell 14 : The Betrayal

Anguish and sadness washed over me in an instant like tidal waves that crashed furiously onto the shore. To be betrayed by our own principal...

'Principal Palmer, why did you do it? Why bother hiding yourself? You know everyone in the school recognises your voice!' I asked, squinting my eyes into the darkness that blanketed my vision. Judging by how everyone had their backs literally squashed with each other, I suspected they too were all blinded by whatever foul magic that Palmer had cooked up.

I could sense Palmer thinking for a moment before he answered.

'My intent of covering your vision now is not to mask my own identity. That need to remain hidden has long become unnecessary. You have identified my voice; that alone is sufficient.' He finished, and almost immediately, I felt magic in the air. Quick Time was activated, and I immediately fired off Frost Bolts towards the direction of the voice in quick succession. But to my surprise, nothing happened, right in the middle of Quick Time! A wave of nausea rocked over my entire body and I doubled up. Hearing the soft thuds of bodies falling beside me, I sensed that they were enraptured by the foul magic too.

Footsteps approached us softly like death's own. They stopped just right in front of my face. Maniacal laughter reverberated around the underground cavern.

'So. I see that you are able to control time in a way. But that is useless! I am the Shadow Walker! More powerful than a warlock, and more devastating than a dark priest; my control of the Void Beyond is too powerful for tiny impediments like time!' He finished, and through the darkness, I felt the warm air he breathed out into my face. I wanted to cave his skull right in there and then, but the curse was affecting my entire body too much for me but to just lie down and listen.

'Maybe I should give you a reward for making it so far here, only to be crushed by me.' Palmer whispered into my ear.

'You see, Redrow was never the culprit in the first place. He was only involved in the theft because I employed him to work for me against the school. He was responsible in kidnapping the chamberlain and covering my tracks in the throne room. We learnt of the secret tunnels as well as the switch to access the tunnels from the throne room after we forced the information out of the chamberlain. Since then, the chamberlain has been living here.'

'I also knew Redrow was cracking up. Bless the goddamned soul, for he came to me to talk about his sorry conscience. I knew then he was going to turn on me, but I never did give him the chance. I cursed him, and down he went. Fortunately, because of the game's rule, whenever you are in combat, you cannot log out until you or your foe are dead, and if you DO try to logout, your account may face termination. It is one of the game's ingenious way of punishing people should they wish to exploit the logging out advantage in a middle of a battle. In this case, it has worked against him. Never did I expect to find you people here just as I was about to leave! I have to thank the dear knight over there for giving me a warning with that yell that there were people in the tunnels. I just had to wait here, and sure enough, you fools just came in like mice walking into a dead man's trap!'

'Why did I do this, you ask? Well.. this school sickens me. I hate this school. The teachers were too capable; anyone of them could have replaced me easily! I had to do something to crush the morale of the school! This was the only way I saw fitting to punish the school's teachers. The students, you ask? Why, they are worse! All of them are future scholars and yet they waste their time playing these games. There's no way I'm letting the school celebrate its anniversary in a game! NO WAY!'

'Anyway by the time the curse's effect wears off, I would be long gone by then. I plan to leave the country forever. You are also the only ones who know about this. Don't forget, 4 hours here is 1 hour in reality, so I have just about enough ti-' He never finished his sentence because at that moment, another loud roar came from my right.

'Roar of Vigor!'

I could swear it was a girl's voice that made that roar but I did not had time to think about that. The roar could remove one negative status effect for those who heard it; I felt the curse being lifted, and I could stand up again. I heard an angry hiss from right in front of me, and I knew had only seconds to react.

First, I had to make sure that all of us could see again. Otherwise, it would be like trying to fight a shark with nothing in the ocean. I willed a surge of mana into the next spell I was creating, which was none other than Luminous Light. I knew Palmer had abilities that consumed my Luminous Light. Hence the only way to prevent that would be to strengthen the spell from within.

'Alter Time : Speed Up!'

I activated Alter Time's active ability, and sped up time within my own body, thus increasing the rate at which mana flowed into the spell. I released the spell before Palmer could steal it.

Brilliant light illuminated the entire underground cavern, even the smaller crevices. For a moment, my eyes were not adjusted to the glare and I shielded my face. Through the glare, I could make out the principal's figure. He was draped in a cloak as black as night, as though his abilities were not dark enough. He too was blinded by the light.

Everyone recovered quickly though, and the fight begun.

Though it was a fight of 1 against 5, Palmer held well on his own. From the Void, he summoned infernal creatures of hell that were vicious and were capable of incinerating anything they touched. We fought hard against these creatures, but they kept on coming. Worse still, Palmer was throwing curses and jinxes at us, and it was all Saber could do to dispel all these status-inflicting attacks. Pretty soon, Palmer was only just aiming at Saber, and all of our HPs were slowly going down with the only healer being bogged down by attacks.

'For each creature you destroy, its essence is returned to the Void, where I can bring forth even more of its kind! You are doomed, students. There is nothing you can do to win this fight!' Palmer shrieked, with a mad gleam in his eyes. The Void he kept mentioning was basically this black portal that he conjured next to him that was sending out monsters periodically. I stared at it, and hastily put together a simple plan to take down the portal. I looked around and saw Bambs blasting creatures apart with his hand grenades. Taking care not to get hit, I went over to him, eliminating creatures that were foolish enough to get in my way.

'Hey Bambs! Listen! I've got a plan to stop those creatures from coming, but I need your help. Can you provide me with the most dangerous bomb you can cook up with? I need it now!' I shouted to him amidst the pandemonium. He nodded and stooped down to prepare some bombshells. I doubled my spell-casting, keeping the creatures away from both me and him. Moments later, he handed me a flask shaped like a turd. Like. Seriously. It was all brown and even pointy. I looked at him incredulously.

'Hey, you want the most badass explosive, I gave you the most badass explosive right there in your hand! All you need to do is light up the little pointy part there, and then you only have 5 seconds before it blows up! I don't know what you're gonna try to do, but it's gonna rain on us if you let it explode right in here! And OH MY GOD! I CAN FINALLY TALK! F** YEAH!!' He yelled back to me as he continued fending off the demonic creatures. I shook my head and turned my attention back into the field.

Cluck and the knight were taking the brunt of the attack from the demonic creatures, being at the forefront and fending off the creatures' melee. Saber was still trying to dispel all the curses that Palmer was throwing at him. Redrow and the chamberlain were both awake, but their hands were bounded by shadowy chains.

Might be better this way, since no one knows their allegiance now. Especially Redrow's...

Alter Time's active ability was ready, and I knew I had only one chance to destroy the Void portal. Summoning all the mana I had at my fingertips, I cast Lights of Heaven on Palmer. I could summon 11 blades now, and all of them flew towards Palmer. In the thick of the battle, Palmer did not notice the blades coming towards him and it was too late to react when the blades embedded themselves into his torso. I knew this was my only chance.

'Alter Time : Speed Up!'

I felt as if time slowed around me, but I knew this was just an illusion; everything just appeared slow to me because my brain's capacity had been magically enhanced to perceive everything around me instantaneously, and going even further to predict what was going to happen. I knew Palmer was struggling to break out of stasis so I ran over to the Void portal. Summoning a Fire Strike, I lit up the tip of the turd-bomb and tossed it towards the Void Portal.

Hopefully, that is not just a ONE-way portal...

'Noooo!' A cry of anguish, followed by pain I never felt before wrecked my very senses to the core. I felt my head pounding against my skull and my brains being juiced. I tried to summon a Barrier, but I felt too weak. As I slumped onto the floor, I saw my HP going down to a critical point. I knew this was it, but at least it was worth it. Now the rest would have a chance against Palmer...

Just as if the heavens themselves decided to take a chance with me again, I felt myself being healed and rejuvenated. The pounding on my head vanished as well. Apparently, Saber was able to remove the last of the curse on himself, and brought himself down to save me just at the last moment before I died. I looked up and saw Palm throwing shadow bolts at Cluck and the knight, who had taken up defensive stances and taking minor damage but were slowly advancing up towards him. He yelled in fury and continued casting Shadow spells with even greater gusto, summoning shadowy hands from the grounds to claw at the two.

I gave Saber a thumbs up and he immediately resumed healing the two melee fighters. With the last of the demonic creatures destroyed, the fight had turned considerably towards our favour. But Palmer was still an extremely tough opponent. He cursed as he launched Shadow Bolts, and at the same time, kept summoning shadowy hands to hackle everyone.

Man, this guy is one insane person. What kind of fiendish monster did he learn all these abilities from?

From the corner of my eye, I saw Bambs approaching Palmer sneakily from behind. I knew that guy had no chance of sneaking up even to a sleeping pig, much less to an accomplished Shadow Walker, and I silently cast Mistcloak on him. I could not quite see him, but my own spellwork allowed my magical senses to detect his location.

Slowly, but determinedly, I started casting spells at Palmer. With the onslaught of magical attacks and facing so many opponents at once, he slowly stepped back. Towards Bambsie. He was just about to take one more step back, and to everyone's surprise, Palmer took a major electric shock. He froze in mid-air, apparently paralysed by the static trap laid by none other than Bambsie.

'Attack now!' I shouted, releasing spell after spell on him. Cluck and the knight slashed and attacked him. Within a few moments, Palm was no more. We all sat down, trying to catch a breath. But I knew the battle was not over yet. I logged out immediately, and stepped out of the capsule. I accessed the video playback records and extracted the portion where Palmer admitted to this entire jig into a flash drive. I took the flash drive, changed quickly and dashed out of the house. It was already midday into the afternoon. As I ran, I took out my mobile phone and dialed the police.

'Hello. This is the Police Force. Please state your emergency.'

'Hello! I believe I have walked into a case of a fraud at my school. I have evidence at hand now, but I'm afraid the culprit might be on his way already to leave the country! You have to stop him before it is too late! Hurry!' I almost screamed into the phone exasperatedly.

'Calm down, sir. Can you provide his name please?' The female voice replied, coolly.

'Yes! His name is Palmer. He is the principal of-' I couldn't complete the sentence because the female voice cut me off.

'Sir, we are already dispatched to apprehend that person you speak of. As it is right now, he has zero chance of escaping the country. Please calm down yourself down, sir, and proceed home. We have enough evidence on our side too to charge the person in court. I believe the evidence you speak of is similar to what we have here at the station.'

I was dumbfounded. They were sent out already? But that was impossible! Relieved, yet uneasy at the same time, I headed home. When I entered the living room, I was surprised to see the gang there. There was another person, but I was not willing to meet his eyes. I did not want to let him see the disappointment in my eyes when I looked at him.

'Julius. Please, take a seat. I am not the master of your house, so the very least I can do is request that you hear me out.' It was Mr Ken, though in reality he looked even more haggard than usual. He had not shaved for days and his eyes had sunk so deep into their sockets. Clearly, he had not been having much sleep. I sat down on the couch next to Jay, still not looking at Mr Ken.

'Look. I was the one who called the cops ahead of you guys. I knew Palmer was planning to flee the country, but I had to nab him before he escaped. But I could not get the police to catch him without the proper evidence. Would the police arrest a man just because he foiled a school anniversary in virtual reality? I suppose not. And besides, he forced me to delete all the playback records I had in my capsule or else he would reveal my role in the theft to the school. He said that if he was going down, I would not escape unscathed too. But with each passing day, my growing conscience nagged at me until I could not take it. That was when I sought assistance from one of you. That person does not want his name revealed, so I regret that I cannot say anymore regarding this.' At this, he hung his head down in shame. Nobody said anything, for we could tell his tale was not over.

'There's something else you have to know. The Palmer you saw in the game was not the real Palmer. He is actually Palmer's twin brother, Salem. Salem used to be the executive director of a big company. But his company encountered some major cash flow problems and it had to close. From someone who earned tens of thousands a month, he was reduced to nothing. Palmer then offered Salem a place to stay at his house. Little did Palmer knew that his brother had long gone insane with the collapse of his company...' We were all shocked beyond words after hearing this. I forgot all about my enmity with Mr Ken. I just looked at him, wanting to hear more about the grisly truth.

'Anyway, I do not know exactly when, but Salem started standing in as his brother. Nobody could tell the difference. How could they, when they were perfect twins? So it was Salem who started giving morning announcements; it was Salem who started meeting the parents; it was Salem who started meeting the Education Board members; it was Salem who started becoming Principal. The real Palmer, I suspect, is still alive because I don't think Salem's that mad enough to murder him, but he's probably tied up or something so that he cannot escape the house.'

'Why did Salem do this?' I asked, horrified at what I was learning.

'Jealousy, of course. He could not take the fact that his own brother was a successful principal of a well-established school with outstanding results in almost everything while he himself has sunk so low into the depths of society with nothing to his name. So he took over his brother, and slowly began destroying his school. Recall how little Jimmy of Year 1 was beaten to a pulp and refused to say anything? That was his work. Recall how Mrs Loo was fired for posting nude photos on social media? That was his blackmailing at work. Recall the fire in the superchemo lab? That was started by him to erase his tracks. He used the lab to create eye-lens that were identical to Palmer's DNA so that he could wear them and fool Palmer's capsule iris-scan into detecting that he was Palmer whenever he logged onto RoyalRoad. All those words that he said to you in the cavern earlier? Well, not all of them are exactly true. He said that just to convince you that he really was Palmer. This was all in a bid so that when Salem leaves the country, Palmer will take all the blame.'

'Then... How did you come into the picture, Mr Ken?' I asked, because I had to know.

He did not answer me immediately. He sighed, and then continued.

'You could say I was feeling angry at the school. For 30 years I had been teaching in this school. Giving all that I had to everyone, be it the staff or the students. I thought I could get some recognition at least, but never once did I get any incentives to work harder. Then, when Mr Au, your previous Head of Department for Mathematics, left the school, I thought I was the one to resume the position. But guess what? They gave it some other young pup just because he had a PhD in Mathematics! I was extremely unhappy, and in all my long years I spent in the school, I went up to the principal to complain for the first time. Little did I know at that point in time Salem had already switched with Palmer... And he used my anger towards the school as a tool for revenge against the school as well. I could give an excuse for myself saying he manipulated me, but... In truth, I saw everything clearly. But I regret everything now. I can not be more ashamed than I have ever been. I will make a public declaration in school tomorrow to apologise for everything that I have done.' With that, he got up and left my place.

The gang was dumbfounded, and everyone was silent. To think that it was not just a simple sabotage! We were all played for fools by the principal's twin brother! And to think he was ingenious enough to develop those lens to hack into his brother's account!

Unicorn Inc. will have a lot to do after this incident...

We all decided to grab lunch outside to discuss more about the matter. Over at McDonalds', we talked it over and decided a few things...

The next day, school was on. I packed my bag and headed for school earlier today because there was an emergency meeting scheduled in the hall. As I entered the hall, there were a lot of murmurings and I heard glimpses of conversations. I shook my head at most of them, simply because they were probably figments of untrue rumours. I saw down next to Benedict. He saw me and gave me a thumbs up.

We heard the microphone squeak and everyone looked up. Principal Palmer, the real one, was standing on the stage with a band of teachers behind him. He looked so frail though, and was almost wheezing when he tried to talk. Everyone cheered and whistled, and he put up his hands to silence everybody.

'A good morning to all of you. As I am sure by now most of you have heard what happened to me, I do not wish to speak of it again, for it pains me more than all of you could possibly imagine. A betrayal of a kin is one hard to stomach, but one done out by a mind out of control is even worse to bear!' At this, he choked, and the teachers behind him rushed forward but he waved them back.

'I-I'm fine. Thanks for your concern. Now, onto more serious business. The castle banner has been reclaimed, and is now reinstated in Gloucest Castle's throne room. Rest assured, the anniversary celebration will go on!' Everyone cheered and clapped at this.

'Secondly, there is a matter regarding Mr Ken, who was an associate with the one responsible for the theft of the banner.' He paused, as all eyes turned to Mr Ken, who stared back at Palmer with wide eyes. It looked like he did not sleep another night.

'Investigations have been conducted. The results are as such : he will not be charged in court. The reason being that he was just aggrieved for his efforts not being recognised in the school and when he tried to seek advice, he was led down the wrong path. He must not take all of the blame. Therefore, this time he will just be let off with a verbal warning. I believe the school cannot afford to lose a Mathematics teacher so capable.' Palmer said, with a thin smile as the school cheered even louder at this. Having heard the 'true' story, courtesy to Keith's amazing ability to spread gossip, all the students were filled with nothing but sympathy for Mr Ken, whom they believed was just a victim in all the problems caused by Salem. Mr Ken, after hearing the principal's address, clutched his heart and silently mouthed his thanks as tears of joy came out of his eyes. He was clapped on the back by all the teachers and students around him.

'Well, that is all for today's meeting. No wait. My apologies. We are saved, by a young group within yourselves, and not a day too soon, for after today, the castle would have reset its ownership and we would indeed be forced to find a new guild castle. This group of students were responsible in bringing down my character in the game and eventually were also able to reclaim the banner for us. WIthout them, today's anniversary celebration would not have been possible. Champions, you shall all receive rewards for your efforts, both in the game and in reality. If you will, the students I am talking about, please step forward to the stage so that the school can properly recognise your efforts.'

I could feel my face turning as red as a beetroot. The idea of standing on stage in front of the school frightened me to the core!

'Hey come on. They wanna thank us. Let's go up! C'mon, I'm gonna pull you up!' Keith said, as he stood up and pulled me up. I tried to hide my face with my hands as he dragged me to the stage. Everyone was cheering for us, and they all laughed heartily when Benedict tripped and fell on the way up the steps to the stage. As I peeked out of my hands, I could see the entire school cheering for us. Even Tidus was clapping, though he was doing it pretty much half-heartedly. All 4 of us were up there, save the mysterious knight. And well, his entrance could not have been more well-received than us.

Oh by the way, did I mention his entrance?

Sorry, I meant... Her entrance.

Well, she was the school's most beautiful flower afterall...

I let my fingers fall of my face in shock as I saw who it was. There was no mistaking that auburn hair that parted so perfectly at her shoulders. No mistaking that flawless smile that laid so delicately on her beautiful lips. No mistaking the way she walked with such grace. She walked up the steps of the stage and stood next to me. I felt myself shrinking further as her lavender-scented perfume assaulted my nose. She looked at me and chuckled.

'What, you didn't receive my e-mail? And I was soooo looking forward to fighting that secret boss with you!'